That is a shifting of goalposts.
Your initial claim was that Rossi has not won a championship since 2009. You were talking about on track performance, so I will stick to that.

My question is why is a guy who has only won a minor leagues championship in 2004 worthy of a factory seat in 2018, if a guy who has 9 championships and last won the big one in 2009 is not worthy.

Easy. Itís been years since Rossiís come within miles of Doviís 2017 consistent results and whatís currently happening is salient. Those that offer factory rides logically do so based on current results - not nostalgic or sentimental factors.

Same reason Honda would throw Pedro under a bus in a second to keep Marquez. MotoGP is about the future, not the past. No one remembers second best. Unless he just happens to sell a lot of t shirts.......

Same reason Honda would throw Pedro under a bus in a second to keep Marquez. MotoGP is about the future, not the past. No one remembers second best. Unless he just happens to sell a lot of t shirts.......

And this is all he's good at since the end of Saturday Night Specials!!!!!

As per my stating, what I meant is: how may a guy that has not won a title in almost a decade be defined the greatest? He sure is one helluva a rider but I don't reckon he's the greatest.

Should have stuck with your original line of argument because this makes even less sense.

So his crime is that he is still competitive, but not as good as he used to be? You would be hard pressed to find any human being in any sport that is capable of that.

There isnít a single one of his contemporaries who would have been remotely as fast as him at his age, given whatever bike. There are people less than half his age who would never be as fast as he is on his worst day, given any bike.

Every sports person has a peak. Rossiís peak is behind him and everyone knows that. But even in the tail end of his career, he is still extremely competitive. That happens with special racers. And such racers have a claim to being an all time great.

If thatís not enough, 9 championships across all classes, 2 stroke and 4 stroke premier titles, being one of the main inspirations for almost every rider who came after him and middle fingering max biaggi at 230kmph, wheels on the grass as he recovers from getting elbowed out will do.

Stacey Moaner would have cried in the showers and wrote a poem or something after that.

Should have stuck with your original line of argument because this makes even less sense.

So his crime is that he is still competitive, but not as good as he used to be? You would be hard pressed to find any human being in any sport that is capable of that.

There isnít a single one of his contemporaries who would have been remotely as fast as him at his age, given whatever bike. There are people less than half his age who would never be as fast as he is on his worst day, given any bike.

Every sports person has a peak. Rossiís peak is behind him and everyone knows that. But even in the tail end of his career, he is still extremely competitive. That happens with special racers. And such racers have a claim to being an all time great.

If thatís not enough, 9 championships across all classes, 2 stroke and 4 stroke premier titles, being one of the main inspirations for almost every rider who came after him and middle fingering max biaggi at 230kmph, wheels on the grass as he recovers from getting elbowed out will do.

Stacey Moaner would have cried in the showers and wrote a poem or something after that.

In the line you quoted, I openly said that he is a very, very good rider using the slang expression "helluva", so why are you writing a novel to tell me he's good, after I said he's good?